Washington Nationals back to winning ways as they beat Houston Astros 8-0 - MLB Update
Washington Nationals bag another win against Houston Astros 8-0, taking their PCT to impressive .6 on the table in a game played at Space Coast Stadium in Melbourne, Florida during their Spring Training Grapefruit contest on March 8, 2012.
Pain in his left calf is likely to result in some major injury for Bryce Harper, Nationals top 2012 regular season prospect. Manager Davey Johnson has withdrawn Harper for next couple of games, in an attempt to save him from some serious injury.
"I'm sure he'll be bugging me," Johnson said when told about Harper's timeline. "But it's a long spring. No hurry."
In the absence of Harper, Eury Perez started for Nationals and while justifying his inclusion he got two hits and one RBI. Positive start by Perez was followed by later upsurge in the score as in the fifth and sixth inning alone two and three runs respectively
were added.
While lead kept mounting up, Astros’ batters toiled for hits and singles and addition of a single score remained their unfulfilled quest throughout the play.
As regard to Nationals starter, Edwin Jackson, manager Johnson was extremely pleased. Not only did he spend five innings pitching, he drew three strike-outs and gave away just two hits.
His coming back to the mound and hurling the ball freely boost Nationals' chances in the season. Disbelieving the way he got there and faced batters for multiple innings, he himself was impressed.
"Who knows," Jackson said. "When you're going good, you don't really know what it is. Something just clicked and whatever mechanics I had, I was able to just continue to repeat them and throw pitches across the plate."
During the play, Nationals pitchers proved too difficult for the Astros as they conceded just four hits.
Troubled by injury, Astros’ starter Livan Hernandez was roughed up by Zimmerman who hit him for a homer. Out of three pitches he was hit, he gave up two runs showing the ease with which hitters were able to thrash him. While enduring over two innings, he
brought two strike-outs.
Building on victory to the Nationals in the reign of manager Johnson, the club looks to take these wins to the regular season. His peculiar style of managing players and getting their talent out seems to be working so far.
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